an imperial moment

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Female imperial woodpecker and
Ijams executive director Paul James

And speaking of ghost birds, which I often do. Paul James and I visited the archives at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in 2005.

We were there to see their ivory-billed woodpecker and passenger pigeon specimens. Chilling sight, so many study skins lying in wooden trays, most collected in the late 1800s and early 1900s when everyone wanted to own something rarer than St. Elmo's fire. 

"Endangered species" wasn't a term in use yet, they were referred to as "vanishing species." They weren't endangered, they were disappearing, so let's get one. Wildlife conservation was decades away. And over the years the various collected dead things, preserved with toe tags, have been donated to the Smithsonian. There they lay in aeternum et semper.

Just before we left the archives, Paul asked curator James Dean, "Do you have an imperial woodpecker?"


"Sure," he said, "I'll go get it."


Native to the mountains of Mexico, the imperial (Campephilus imperialis) is closely related to the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis).


When Dean returned he had an amazing specimen of a female imperial mounted on a log.

Wow! 


And now a historic home movie taken in 1956 by William Rhein, a dentist from Pennsylvania, has been discovered and released by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Perhaps the last or one of the last sightings of the lordly species on its home range.

Did I say "Wow!"?


Go to: imperial


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wilderness wildlife week

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Wilderness Wildlife Week begins today in Pigeon Forge at the Music Road Hotel Convention Center. There will be more presentations than ever.

On Monday, January 10, 11 a.m. until noon, join Ijams Executive Director Paul James for a program titled The Ijams Family Legacy in the Smokies.

Paul’s book is a look into the Ijams family’s role in the Smoky Mountains, including hiking, bird watching, camping on Mt. LeConte, the creation of Camp Margaret Townsend for Girl Scouts, and H.P. Ijams’ role promoting the new national park in the 1930s. Also featured is an account of H.P. Ijams’ famous passenger pigeon and the extinction of this once prevalent species.

Tuesday, January 11, 9 until 10:30 a.m., I’ll be speaking about Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Ivorybill. The legendary ghost bird of the South, the ivory-billed woodpecker has been popping in and out of existence for the past century. Is the species extinct or not? It’s a question that remains unanswered. However, in the late 1930s, the species was very much alive and photographed. For three years, Jim Tanner studied the most documented population in northeast Louisiana. What did he learn?

Is that soaring bird a hawk, vulture or eagle? Which owls do we hear hooting in the night? On Thursday, January 13, Noon-1:30 p.m., I’ll speak on Identifying Local Birds of Prey providing quick tips on how to identify the various species of falcons, hawks, eagles, owls and vultures found in the Tennessee Valley.

For a complete listing of all WWW programs go to: schedule.

Please join us.



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swallowtail soiree

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Were you invited?

In affect, I was. Paul James came into my office the other day and said, "You need to check this out." The service road leading into the new Ross Marble Natural Area was apparently holding a swallowtail soiree. Dozens were nectaring on the late-season wildflowers that are in bloom along the overgrown trail.

"You better take your camera," he added. As indeed I did.

The new Ross Marble Natural Area is slated to be opened to the public in early November. It will bring the total acreage of Ijams Nature Center to over 275 acres.

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